Method of operating open-hearth furnaces



35- sirable that all of the needed air be passe Patented July 17, 192s.

UNITED STATES" .PATENT oFFlxc-E.

ARTHUR L. sTEvENs, or rOnATIoN, or

METHOD F OPERATING OPEN-HEARTH FURNACES.

t' Application med May 16,

This invention relates to a new and improved furnace construction and method of operation, 'and more specifically to -a structure and method especially relat-ing to furnaces of the open hearth or similar types.

Heretofore it has been customary in this type of furnace to supply air needed for combustion by natural draft. As in the usual type of furnace the regenerators for preheat-ing the air are placed at a lowerlevel than the hearth, it becomes necessary to maintain a draft pressure sufliciently below atmospheric pressure to induce the hot gas' to iowdownward from the melting cham- 15. ber, and'. as air for combustion is induced by di'erential draft pressure it is usual to vmaintain a pressure in the melting chamber less than outside atmospheric pressure. The result of this practice is that a comparatively large Volume of cold air is induced or infiltered through various openings such as doors, observation holes, burner openings, etc.

In melting steel the temperature of the waste gases is so high that the greater por- `5 tion of the heat developed by combustion of fuel is represented by waste gases and it is generators to recover as much of this heat as possible and return it by heating the air needed for combustion. The greater part of useful work done in an open hearth fur' nace is by means of heat so recovered.l As theair needed for combustion is the `only medium for heat transfer, it is therefore dethrough the regenerators and that all other air be excluded. This is not done in usual practice as vheretofore prevalent, but is accomplished by my invention. In common practice the amount Vof infiltered' cold air becomes a large percentage of the air requirement and this acts directlyv p to reduce the volume of air that can be used 1 as a medium of heat recovery and transfer from, the regenerators. Furthermore, the

cold air must' be heated to the temperature' thus absorbing directly from` of the furnace, the melting chamber heat that should be otherwise utilized. Loss from thissource represents a reduction in the thermal elliciency and increases fuel comsumption. Furthermore, it is common practice to operate such furnaces with an` excess .of air other than required for the combustion of fuel.

' 65 As the usual method of regulation is a matsensible heat of the the purpose of the re-4 d .gases and regulate the` draft pressure to 1927. Serial No. 191,563.

ter of judgment on the part of the operator,

this excess air varies in quantity during the heat and in consecutive heats.

In melting steel it becomes necessary to oxidize certain elements to 1 produce. the- 60 analysis desired. A charge of pig iron will contain a higher percentage of carbon than is desired in the steel and this excess carbon and other substances are oxidized by either an oxygen bearing material such asiron ore or mill scale in the bath, or by Oxygen -in the atmosphere of the furnace.

Material that can be analyzed and weighed, can be charged into the furnace in the right proportion to produce the desired reactlons, resulting in greater accuracy in operation than by 'depending upon a' variable', volume of oxygen contained in the furnace atmosphere.

By maintaining a pressure in the melting 75 chamber substantially the same as the outside atmosphere, infiltration of'cold air is prevented and the volume of air that can be passed through the regenerators is increased with a greater capacity for heat transfer.

l To accomplish this I force air through the regenerators in a measured volume by supplying it at constant prsure and by regulat-ion of the size of orifice in a suitable valve so thatrits volume is proportionate to the quantity of fuel being burned. The air sup` ply thus becomes independent of and not related in any way -to stack draft.

^ I use a stack merely to remove the waste balance the difference in specific gravity between the heated gases leavlng the furnace and the ,outside atmosphere. 'As in most furnaces, the regenerators are placed below the level of the melting chamber, it is necessary to maintain a. pressure below atmoshere in the bottom flue` equal to that equal to. the height in feet to the hearth multiplied Y by the difference in weight of the. heated gases and air at room temperature. W'hen this draft pressure is.; properly regulated the pressure in the melting chamber may be maintained at the same pressure as the outside atmosphere or plus or minus, as may be desired. To insure this control ofy pressure I Vprovide a, stack having an excess 'caacity, and provide a damper in the lue eading to it that-may be partially closed to limit the draft 'pressure at the base of the regenerator to approximately" that iig To automatically control any variation due to different rate of firing, etc., that may occur durinor the heating, I provide an air` opening in tlie iue leading to the stack, said opening being fitted with a damper or Valve which is opened or closed by means of a manometer connected to the furnace. Should the pressure fall at the furnace below what isdesired indicating too strong a. draft, the manometer opens the damper or valve, ad,- mitting air to stack which reduces the draft pressure. If the pressure increases at the furnace beyond what is desired, then the manometer closes the damper in air bypass and increases the draft pressure.

It is an objectof the present invention to provide a new and improved open hearth furnace or the like and a method for operating such furnaces.

It is a further object to "provide a method and apparatus whereby the. constituents of the furnace atmosphere and the pressure of said atmosphere are controlled.

It is an additional object to provide a method and apparatus adapted to effect economy in fuel and to minimize metal loss and produce a metal of high quality.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

I have illustrated in the accompanying dra-Winds somewhat diagrammatically one form of appara-tus adapted for carrying out my invention.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a. sectional elevation `of a furnace; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary ing the air control valve.

In the drawing the furnace hearth is shown at 11 and at the left end the air uptake 12 connected to the regenerator 13. The air passage 14 connects the regenerator 13 and they vertical passage 15. The passa-ge 15 is controlled by a rotary valve 16 which is operated by handle 17. The handle 17 is provided with a pointer 18 cooperating with a calibrated scale 19. The blower 20 serves to force air under pressure through the valve 16. .i l

The fuel burner 21 is shown entering the left end of the furnace and this burner has connected thereto the pipe 22, controlled by valve 23. This pipe is adapted for the introduction of steam or other fluid under pressure serving to atomize or vaporize the fuel. The fuel is introduced into the burner plan view show- 'throu'gh pipe 24, controlled by valve 25.

generator 29, communicating with the passage 30 which leads to the stack 31. The

of vertically sliding damper 32. The pas sage 33 enters the passage` 30 between the passage 30 is provided with a usual type furnace and the stack and this passage 33 communicates with the atmosphere.

The en d of the passage is' provided with the valve 34 which is connected by the operating link 35 to the lever 36. This lever 36 is pivoted at 37 to the manometer 38.'

The free end of the lever 36 is connected to the upper bell 39 4of the manometer and the opposite end of the lever carries an adjustable counterbalance weight 40. The

manometer'is shown as filled with Huid at y 41 and the chamber under the bell is connccted to the downtake 28 by the passage 42.

While in the diagrammatic showing of the drawing the furnace has been shown as one adapted to continually run in one direction, this has been done for the sake of simplicity and clearness and it will be understood that 'both ends o f the furnace are identical and which that regenerator received the heated outgoing gases. The valves ycontrolling the :How of fuel and atomizing Huid are opened to give the desired fuel fiow. This flow is recorded on the dial 27. The blower 20 is in operation and the valve handle 17 will be turned to the point at which an air How will be permitted properly coordinated with the fuel iiow indicated on dial 27 It will be understood that the valve scale 1 9 will be calibrated to correspond to the dial 27- so that the operator may know how to set the valve 16 for every rate of flow of the fuel. This air How is so proportioned as to provide the oxygen necessary for complete combustion of the fuel and to provide a substantially neutral atmosphere in the furnace without the presence of oxygen.

The products of combustion pass from thc. furnace through downtake 28, regenerator 29 and passage I30 to the stack' 31. It will be apparent that the stack 31 will exert a natural draft to draw the products of combustion out of the furnace. It is desired,

however, to maintain the pressure in the furnace chamber substantially at that of the atmosphere. To accomplish this the manometer and valve 34 are provided. It

will be apparent that' if the valve 34 is widely open the stack will draw largely through passage 33'and will have little d-raft effect upon the furnace 1l, due to the draft losses of the regenerator and the doWntake.

mum draft created' by the stack. The pressure 1n the dou'ntale 28 is communicated to the be-ll 39 and when this 'pressure rises it will lift the bell. This elevation of the bell through the lever 3G and link 35.will tend to close the valve 34. Closure of the valve 34 creates additional stack draft in the downiake 28'and consequently lowers the pressure in' that downtake. It will be apparent, therefore, that by the proper proportioning of `Wei. rhts and arcas in the manometer and counterbalancc 40, any desired draft may be maintained in the downtake 28. An additional manual control of the draft 'is accomplished by the sliding damper 32 which may be varied without varying the adjustment of the manometer and Valve 34. With the pressure in the furnace chamber maintained at substantially that of the atmosphere, there Will be yno tendency for the air to be drawn in through the doors and peepholes in the furnace. Preferably, however, all .such openings are made'with coverings as nearly gas tight as is practical in furnace construction and operation.

By the use of apparatus of the `character shown and described-according to the method of my invention, the heat losses, due to excess air and to cold air drawn into the furnace in ordinary methodsof furnace op,- eration, are reduced to a negligible amount. The air is forced in under positive pressure such as to overcome the pressure losses in the incoming regenerator and passages and the products of combustion are drawn out by suction sufficient to overcome the pressure losses in the outgoing passages and regenerator. It is, therefore, practical to operate the furnace with the furnace chamber itself substantially at atmospheric pressure.

The reduction i'n the heat losses causes a very marked reduction in the quantity of fuel required per ton of steel produced an..- in actual practice this reduction has been found to approximate fifty per cent. A further important feature of the invention lies in the production of a supe-rior grade of steel. The fact that the furnace atmosphere is substantially neutral permits the use of a low percentage of pig iron and a large percentage of scrap with consequent reduction in the cost of the charge. The oxidation desired in the operation can be carried out rWith great accuracy by charging into the furnace velements containing the exact amount of oxygen required for this oxidation. The use of such an oxidizing agent has the additional advantage that it sets up au active reaction with the evolution of gas that cleans the liquid metal of impurities.

/Vhile I have shown for purposes of illustra-tion one preferred form of furnace adapt'-v ed for the carrying out of my invention, it will be understood that the invention may -be carried out byyothcr forms of furnaces and I contemplate lsuch changes in both method and apparatus as come Within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: l. The method of operating an open hearth furnace consisting in creating a neutral atmosphere in the furnace chamber, and

vautomatically maintaining it at substantially atmospheric pressure.

2. The method of operating an open hearth furnace consisting in creating a neutral atmosphere in the furnace chamber by delivering measured proportions of fuel and air, and automatically maintaining it at' substantially atmospheric pressure.

3. The method of operating an open heart-h furnace consistino' in creating a neutral atmosphere yin the faurnace chamber by maintaining a constant pressure on the fuel and airl and delivering measured proportions thereof to the furnace chamber, and

automatically maintaining substantially atmospheric pressure in the furnace chamber.

4. The method of operating an open hearth furnace consisting in creatin a neutral atmosphere in the furnace'cham ier, and automatically maintaining it at substantially atmospheric pressure, by means of the automatic regulation of the stack draft.

5. The method of operating an open hearth furnace consisting in creating a neutral atmosphere in the furnace chamber, and maintaining it at substantially atmospheric pressure by a means of the regulation of the stack draft automatically from the pressure in the furnace chamber.

6. The method of operating an open hearth furnace consisting in creating a neutral atmosphere in the furnace chamber by maintaining a constant pressure on the fuel and air and delivering measured proportions thereof to the furnace chamber, and maintaining substantialy atmospheric pressure in the furnace chamber by admitting cold air into the outlet flue, the admission thereof being regulated automatically from the pressure in the chamber.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 13th day of May, 1927.

ARTHUR L. STEVENS. 

